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The 2015-16 season wasn't very kind to the Scarlet Knights and new head coach Steve Pikiell wasn't left with much following Rutger's trainwreck of a season. Complicating things even more was the head coaching change led to a few recruiting losses, with Maishe Dailey and Jahlil Tripp now heading elsewhere. Mix that with Corey Sanders potentially heading to the NBA and the Scarlet Knights could have some serious personnel issues in Pikiell's first season.
In attempt to add some talent to the roster, Pikiell added a late commit to the 2016 class with the addition of Candido Sa. Sa is now the third player for the 2016 class, joining unranked forward Matt Bullock and three-star forward Issa Thiam. The 6'9" forward is a junior college transfer and chose the Scarlet Knights over a number of bigger programs that had shown some interest, including Texas, Baylor and Pittsburgh. It was originally thought Sa would end up at Texas A&M, but that changed when associate head coach Rick Stansbury took a job at Western Kentucky.
Sa spent last season playing for San Jacinto College-Central, where he averaged 9.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game at the junior college level. His size and experience could prove to be valuable and he should provide an immediate presence inside for the Scarlet Knights as they try to drastically improve their frontcourt. Besides playing at the junior college level, the 23 year old Portuguese native also played overseas before heading stateside.
The biggest takeaway here is that the Rutgers commit chose to commit to Rutgers even with some legitimate interest from Texas, as the big was set to visit Austin this weekend. His scoring ability might not set the world on fire (45.9% from the field last year), but he's a proven shot blocker and could help Rutgers on the boards inside.
Considering the fact that Rutgers finished 232nd in the nation in total rebounds (11th in the Big Ten) and were near last in the nation in rebounds allowed (332nd of 351 teams), Sa could be a solid acquisition inside as long as they don't rely on him for many points.